On March 2003 US together with UK started attacking Iraq despite of overwhelming international opinion opposing the use of arms, and the Japanese government swiftly supported US/UK’s attack.
Soon after, the Japanese government passed the “Special Measures Act relating to Humanitarian Recovery Support and Security Activities in Iraq” in August 2003 without enough deliberation. Based on this Act, the government dispatched Self Defense Force (SDF) to Iraq on December 2003. Since then, Japan has been participating in the US/UK illegal occupation that follows war of aggression as an assailant.
We strongly believe that dispatching SDF breaches the Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which declares that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”
It also invades all people’s right to live in peace. The Constitution confirms in its preamble that every national in the world has “the right to live in peace, free from fear and want.”
Therefore we, more than 5,300 citizens from 11 cities* all over the country, started a lawsuit against the Japanese government on January 2004 with the following demands:
(*)
Sapporo, litigated in January, 2004 with 33 plaintiffs in total as of March 2005
Nagoya, litigated in February, 2004 with 3,148 plaintiffs in total as of March 2005
Tokyo, litigated in March, 2004 with about 100 plaintiffs
Osaka(A), litigated in April, 2004 with 1,045 plaintiffs in total as of March 2005
Osaka(B), litigated in July, 2004 with 36 plaintiffs
Shizuoka, litigated in May, 2004 with 217 plaintiffs
Yamanashi, litigated in August, 2004 with 225 plaintiffs
Sendai, litigated in December, 2004 with 3 plaintiffs
Tochigi, litigated in December, 2004 with 47 plaintiffs
Okayama, litigated in January, 2005 with 153 plaintiffs
Kumamoto, litigated in March, 2005 with 38 plaintiffs
Kyoto, litigated in March, 2005 with 283 plaintiffs